This invention relates to an improved process and apparatus for contacting fluid with material contained in a plurality of chambers within a multisegmented vertically-arranged column. Generally, the use of liquid absorptive and adsorptive ion exchange and/or gel filtration columns for the purification and treatment of various materials is known, e.g. as illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,292, and patents cited therein.
The prior art patents, however, do not provide an apparatus and process for contacting fluid with material disposed in a plurality of segmented chambers of a column, and which permits fluid to flow exclusively in or out of each segment or chamber, or through all of the sequential segmented chambers containing the preselected adsorptive ion exchange or gel material and as a continuous process in accordance with the present invention.